Chevy Gives $40,000 Impala Cadillac Luxury: Jason Harper

A detail of the 2014 Chevrolet Impala. The model's series got its start in the late 1950s. Source: General Motors via Bloomberg

May 30 (Bloomberg) -- You’ve hit that point when you
deserve a little leather in your life. You’ve logged countless
hours during the daily commute, staring at a hard plastic
dashboard, and it’s time to move onward and upward.

You’re not a person of pretensions though. No sports car
for you, middle-age crisis or not, and perhaps you’d like to buy
American. I have a proposition: A Chevy.

The Impala, specifically: a full-size sedan with a long and
storied history, some of it stylish and grand, some not. The new
incarnation, the 2014-model year, falls on the good side,
mostly. While the base price is $27,500, the 2LTZ is the package
you’ll want, with leather and great safety features and a V-6
engine that’ll get you places, starting at $36,500.

The Impala has been totally redesigned, and along the way
it filched technology and features from upscale General Motors
brethren Cadillac and Buick. While a luxurious Chevy may sound
like an oxymoron, the Impala certainly tilts in that direction.

With front-wheel-drive and no option for all-wheel-drive,
it’s no sports car. Yet the 3.6-liter V-6, married to a six-speed automatic transmission, has plenty of pull at 305
horsepower, and the overall drive is pleasant.

The sedan is roomy, seating five comfortably. The trunk is
huge. And it has a real sense of road presence with masculine
lines, a tall hood and authoritative grill.

The fully equipped Impala even has LED running lights at
the corners of the fascia, proving that automobile fads are a
lot like fashion fads. They begin at the top (in this case, Audi
was the first major carmaker to use them as a design element)
and eventually trickle downward.

Bat Wings

The Impala got its start in the late 1950s, and it was a
stylish machine indeed. Various model years had long, extended
trunks, with expressive design cues like wild rear fins
sometimes described as “bat wings.” By the late 1970s the
Impala was downgraded to an entry-level car, its stylish days at
an end. (The 2013 model-year Impala? Not a pretty thing.)

Today, the all-new interior is perhaps the best return to
form. My test model, pushing $40,000 with options (a ticket of
$39,510) had a black and tan color scheme and even at first
glance was a surprise. A swathe of tan-stitched leather sat atop
the dashboard, spread over soft-touch plastic as if it were a
bear-skin rug thrown over flooring. The leather panels were
thick, begging to be squeezed.

There was laminated wood on the doors, hide-bound seats and
a steering wheel of wood and leather. Chevy craftsman had to
work around a number of complicated interior angles, and while
the fit and finish wasn’t perfect -- I’m not sure it would pass
an Audi inspector -- it was still pretty darn good.

Power Sunroof

The array of convenience features on the 2LTZ also struck
me. It has one-touch power windows throughout, a rear-vision
camera, lane-departure warning and rear cross-traffic alert
(which proved quite helpful when backing out of a tricky parking
spot). A power sunroof and second-row skylight are standard on
the upmarket model, as are the heated seats. You get 10 airbags,
too.

The GPS and infotainment system, called MyLink, is similar
to Cadillac’s CUE, with an eight-inch touchscreen.

Unlike the Cadillac, though, it still has buttons and
knobs, making the controls far easier to access. You want to
turn up the air? There’s a knob with a digital readout inside.
Simple and genius.

Still, many buyers might balk at a Chevy sedan at this
price. (The Spark, Sonic and Cruze all start at well less than
$20,000.) I couldn’t help but compare it to another flagship
sedan I recently tested, the Acura RLX. That all-new model
starts at just under $50,000 and is about $55,000 with a
technology package.

Athletic Stance

The Acura’s 3.5-liter V-6 has 310 hp, only five more horses
than the Impala’s. The RLX, wider and shorter than the Impala,
has a more athletic stance. And it gets better gas mileage (20
city, 31 highway, versus 18 and 28).

In terms of overall comfort, luxury and drivability, in
many ways I preferred the Impala. Both are front-wheel-drive.
The steering and feel of the pedals were firm on the Impala and
far too slack on the RLX. The Impala’s exterior was more
interesting than the RLX’s generic lines.

And ultimately the Chevrolet is less expensive. There’s
value at that $36,500 price, making it a pretty good way to
introduce some leather to your daily commute.